I love electronics stores and markets, especially those in Asia. Bic Photo and Yodobashi Camera are awesome for the incredible selection of everything. It’s always worth perusing to see what awesomeness Japanese manufacturers have released that isn’t available elsewhere.

As usual, the most absurd music player award goes to Sony for the “Life Space UX” lamp speaker. The speaker sounded like any other small bluetooth speaker, except with a giant LED lightbulb attached. From the photos on the Sony website, it looks like you’re supposed to carry it around on pilgrimages like a sacred flame.

The Best Approximation of a Borg award goes to Panasonic for this 45 grams of camera weirdness. I’m pretty sure I’d be compelled to add a red laser pointer. Appropriate coordinated clothing options are either black and white camouflage jacket and mohawk, or black leather, green phaser blocking shields, and a bald head.

Resistance is futile when it comes to making purchases in these consumer wonderlands. I added the Nikkor 35mm f/2 lens to my kit. I’m really loving it for street photography, and for lightening my load.

As an aside, if you were interested in knowing what Tommy Lee Jones is up to, he’s looking like a Premium Boss for Suntory.

We thought we were on our way to wander around beautiful Yoyogi park. We were surprised when we could hear intense drumming echoing through the halls of the subway station.

It was hard not to follow the crowd toward to the festivities which we learned later were for “Kigen-sai,” the National Foundation Festival.

A very informative sign informed us that:

February 11 is a day of special significance namely, it is the date that Emperor Jinmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan, acceded to the throne at Kashihara’no’miya in Yamato (the current Nara Prefecture). Before World War II, this day was named National Foundation Day, and was considered one of the four major celebrative days in Japan, along with New Year’s Day, the birthday of the reigning Emperor, and Emperor Meiji’s birthday. Today, it is called the Day Commemorating the National Foundation. A Shinto ritual ceremony is held at shrines all over Japan in reverence of the commencement of the imperial reign by Emperor Jinmu. On this 2,677th year of the imperial reign, let us proceed with courage to create a better society and nation, while appreciating the effort of our forefathers who have established prosperity in Japan.

Neighbourhoods gathered together to carry and dance shrines to the temple in a long joyous procession.

There was a solemn moment as the shrines passed through the giant wooden torii that marks the entry into the shrine area.

Below the noise of the crowd, the singing, and the drumming, you could feel a deep thundering bass through the entire area. The source was a giant drum. The video below captures the ceremony as men took turns striking it, but doesn’t capture the thundering that you could feel in your chest.

Chinese New Year is a time when half of China decides to travel to their home towns. This makes travel within China an absolute nightmare, yet staying in Beijing during a four-day weekend isn’t an option. The solution is to figure out the location where four hundred million or so Han are least likely to go. In 2010 we figured that recent uprisings made Kashgar in Xinjiang a safe bet.

Given the tensions China is stirring up with Japan, and the continuous stream of anti-Japanese propaganda, we figured that Japan was a great destination to ring in the year of the Snake (2013).

We were referred through friends to an unbelievably awesome host who showed us a great time, taught us about great sake, and helped us find the most amazing powder I’ve ever seen.

Growing up skiing in Eastern North America, powder is a completely foreign concept to me. It was snowing heavily and visibility was bad on our first day. I’m very thankful for this because every time there was a moment of clarity and I could see where I was going, I was freaked out by the giant mounds of snow forming into moguls. I would see the giant mogul and try to adjust to approach at the perfect angle to absorb the impact and maintain control.

It took me a long time to overcome this instinct and learn that you can breeze right over and through light fluffy powder. It was much easier when I couldn’t see what was coming and was just floating on the snow. Eventually I figured it out.

There were a couple of occasions when I slowed too much or carved too hard and sunk too far into the snow. Getting out of waist deep snow isn’t easy. Being huge by Japanese standards, the rental bindings were set too loose and I also blew out of my skis in spectacular fashion. The landings were soft, but the search for the missing ski was always a challenge.

Off the hills we ate great food and were amused by the snow clearing water sprinklers that are everywhere in the village. These little sprinkler heads are in all parking lots and in the centre of every roadway in the town. The system is highly effective because the temperature never drops too far below freezing, although it makes the city a less than appealing place to be a pedestrian.

Despite the awesomeness of the four different mountains we skied, I don’t have a lot of photos because there was just too much snow for me to take out my camera.

I knew when I saw a packed restaurant with a line-up of people waiting for a seat at the conveyor belt that I had to give it a try. I was slightly disappointed in the food, but that didn’t stop me from accumulating a giant stack of empty plates in front of me.

After living in China for two years, I didn’t recognize what was happening in front of me on the train platform. The sight of neatly formed single-file lines of people waiting patiently to board the train had become completely foreign to me.

It wasn’t until the last person stepped off the train that the line moved. It was so quick and efficient that I waited for the next train to watch it happen again.